Kenya Missions Update

July 20, 2006

Greetings in the Precious Name of Jesus!

On 1st July, we had our first official teaching seminar at the Saroiyot Training Centre. 10 ladies and one man came for the seminar from the Tungururwet Cluster of Churches. We showed Mable’s Garden Secrets and then did practical demonstrations for the remainder of the time. We made juice from citric acid and food coloring and flavoring. We ate scones and bread made from the bread oven. We did not have time to teach about making bread, so we are planning another day when this will be done and getting ready for the end of the year holiday season, how to make candy from liquid glucose. We will plan a day later in the year to visit one of their homes, see their garden and teach about drying vegetables to be used during the dry season.

We rushed to get the pit latrine in good shape. We also added bathing rooms. Now, instead of them being made of mud, they are made of bricks. Leonard is a young man who helped in the building of our house. He felt he could do the job, so we let him try. He did a fair job, he is not ready to build a house yet, but with practice, maybe he will become a builder. Leonard is helping at Saroiyot at the moment with many and various projects. He is an orphan and the excitement in his life just now is that an orphan young lady has caught his eye! I have known Leonard for about three years now. I have seen him become a Christian, and begin to teach others about Christ. In the month of August, a student who is an orphan is coming to work for us so he can have school fees to continue in school. He will live with Leonard and eat with him. This young man is not a Christian, so pray.

I am specifically working with 7 elders from 6 different regions in our ministry area. We meet for a weekend every month. We will begin going out in twos for cluster leaders meetings. We have 24 clusters in our work area. A cluster is a group of churches in an area that are close enough to one another to be able to have joint meetings from time to time. The process started in June with Jeremiah Rotich and I going to the Kuinet Cluster. We met into late in the night, and then on Sunday, met with the Christians who came to the cluster meeting.

Pray for the meeting this weekend. On Friday, the 7 elders will come and we will meet together in the late afternoon and evening. Then on Saturday we have invited the Chairmen from each of the clusters to join us. We have an agenda of about 30 items to discuss with them. The meeting will conclude after we have a worship service together on Sunday.

Kirsten and Ruth Korner
They were excited about three days off of school last week. We went to Lake Baringo Island Camp with visitors. The boat ride to the camp made Grace a bit nervous and so they got a bit nervous. One morning early, they took a boat tour around the island and saw little crocodiles and a baby hippo and its mother. By the way the baby hippo was riding on its mother back. They put a banana inside a fish (to get the fish to float) and they got to see the bird called, “King Fisher” come down and get it out of the water. We had several colorful birds come really close to us at the tented camp as we fed them bread.

School is doing well, but they are looking forward to playing outside the whole day. They will be on School holiday from 4th August to 4th September. Their aunt, cousin and possible Cucu (grandmother) Tabitha (Grace’s aunt) will be coming to visit for a few days.

Prayer Requests

1. Rain – really needed. This rainy season has been like none other. There has been enough to get the crops grown, but very little reserve in the ground to push the crop to a good harvest. As we traveled, in the Kerio and Baringo valleys, there is going to be almost no harvest of this vital food stable.
2. The meeting you read about above that will take place on 21st – 23rd of July, this weekend.
3. 29th –30th July as 5 other elders and I go to visit clusters of churches in our work area. We hope to encourage them in many and various ways. We will go out two by two to these clusters.
4. The annual leaders/elders/preacher meeting 11th – 13th August.
5. Youth meetings that will take place in the area during the month of August.
6. The young man who will come to work at Saroiyot in August who is not a Christian.

ABOUT ELDORET as found in a local town magazine. Spellings are the way they appear in the article.
    Eldoret was first proclaimed a town in an “official Gazzete” notice on 14th November, 1912. White settler farmers agreed to set apart “farm No. 64” for the construction of an administration and business center because, afterall, it was rocky and unproductive.
    The name Eldoret comes from the Maasai word “eldore” which translates to “stony river.” 93 years later, Eldoret has evolved into a post-modern international business centre hosting a wide spectrum of business establishments and institutions. Located conveniently at the center of the East African Map, the town has become a middle point of regional and international repute.
    Besides being an explosive business and farming capital, the town serves as the headquarters of Uasin Gishu District. Eldoret is also the hometown of many of Kenya’s and the world’s athletics champions. Trophy haulers, medal harvesters and world record breakers – all come back home to Eldoret.
    One of Eldoret’s greatest resources is its physical setting and climate. Set on a high plateau at about 6,500 ft. above sea level, Eldoret has a healthy cool climate all year long.

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What they don’t say about us are some other facts. Like, many years ago when they put up three street lights on the main Nairobi – Uganda road through town, they had so many accidents in the first 30 minutes, that they turned them off. Today, several lie in broken shattered state beside the road as they have been hit by trucks. Now we have traffic jams at rush hour, and in town, people double park, making it hard to travel through the town or you may get your car blocked in for a while (best take a book to town to read while waiting)! Or, about two months ago we read in the newspaper said that the municipal is one of the most corrupt in Kenya. We heard that the reason for continual water shortages is because the municipal has not paid the water company and they are taking it out on us. When enough or us or powerful people complain, then they will get their money (if it has not been stolen)! We get lots of practice on “having a happy heart”!